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Gut Punch

Everyone has been there. We all should empathize. It’s that feeling when you’ve been betrayed, you are cornered with no recourse and there is no possible way to win. At one time or another, we have all felt that way.

That’s why I am uncomfortable with the name-calling that has issued from the conservative side of the political divide as all the dire predictions concerning this President have come to fruition. Frustration at those who voted for this experiment in socialized medicine has boiled over and, as the price tag hits the American main street, it’s easy to shout, “You voted for it, now how do you like it?!!!” or “You get what you deserve!!” I have been as guilty as others of making snide, perhaps tasteless, but certainly sarcastic remarks at peoples’ unfortunate circumstances. Now, I have come to understand and be reminded – these are my fellow Americans. No matter who or what they voted for, they now face a future of despair. Hope and Change has decimated their own hope of a better future for themselves and those they love.

I recently saw a news report that documented the reaction of workers in an urban auto body shop. The expression of despair on these blue-collar workers’ as they looked at their new premiums under Obamacare was heart wrenching to watch. There was no space to gloat. No desire to say, “I told you so”. Just the wish that I, a fellow American, could have some power to make everything right again and takes us back to when things seemed more sane.

Who knows what these workers’ political ideology is? I don’t! And I don’t care. I have felt that same sick feeling of despair in the pit of my stomach. That same feeling when it seems the perfect storm of calamity is upon you and it can’t possibly get worse. Then, it does.

It feels like a gut punch, the feeling that the control of your future has been taken out of your hands. It’s like watching every dream evaporate and you are bound and helpless to prevent it. That’s what I saw in those, my fellow Americans, eyes.

Much has been said about the great divide within our Nation. Perhaps the disaster that has been this Presidency can have one positive effect. Maybe, it can unify us.

Let us remember that one size does not fit all Americans because we are so diverse. Let us return to the standards that celebrated individuals and that our differences are what make up all the great pieces to this great engine of the United States. But most of all, let’s show compassion to our fellow Americans who have been betrayed by this President.

Deepening the divide will not help us. It will destroy us. This President has proven what a majority of us knew all along; the government cannot help us. So, let’s do what Americans have always done. We can stand together again. Together we can rise from the ashes of this disaster the same way we have risen from every other disaster. But we must choose to stand.